On the Tenth Day of Gate-mas...

We found that owners of beachfront homes in Hawaii were purposely growing out naupaka and other vegetation to block access along shorelines and keep the public away from those areas. In 2009, thanks in part to our lobbying efforts, new legislation was passed to impose fines on property owners (see below for article in today's Honolulu Star-Advertiser about notices being sent to Kahala homeowners).

Below is a photo of someone in Kailua using sprinklers to grow out naupaka -- which is also a way for them to claim more beach land as their own property since the vegetation line is used as a boundary. You can see the sprinkler head in the middle of the picture.

And here's the article that ran in today's newspaper...

State coastal enforcement officials are cracking down on beachfront homeowners whose property landscapes encroach on public rights of way in Kahala and elsewhere. The state mailed notices this month to nine Kahala beachfront property owners, asking them to cut their vegetation within 21 days or face a fine of $1,000.

The homes are between Kahala Beach Park and the Hunakai Street public beach access lane. The fines could rise to $2,000 on a second notice and also be taken for further action to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources if the landowners fail to comply.

State officials said civil fines could be as high as $15,000, plus other costs including restoration. The public shoreline right of way is generally defined as extending seaward from a beach's high water mark, allowing people to walk along the shoreline.

A problem occurs when a property owner cultivates vegetation to encroach into the right of way. "Maintaining public access along the shoreline is important, and fortunately a law is in place to ensure the beaches are kept free of encroaching vegetation from coastal properties that block the public right of way," said William Aila Jr., director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Scotty Anderson, chairman of the Waialae-Kahala Neighborhood Board, has said that some landowners have grown vegetation so that plants extend into the public right of way. Kimberly Mills, staff planner with the state Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, said the state has mailed similar notices this year to property owners in Portlock and Paiko Lagoon and to six property owners along Diamond Head, and that all have complied with the notices.

Mills said of the nine properties in Kahala, one has been cleared of encroaching vegetation, while representatives of the remaining eight have asked for extensions and indicated they will comply. Mills said the Kahala property owners have until Jan. 31 to comply. The reaction has been different from in 2008, when some landowners in Kahala did not comply with the state's requests, Mills said.

Legislators passed a law in 2009 reaffirming the state's authority to enforce the maintenance of "beach transit corridors" by prohibiting vegetation. Mills said state officials had to develop a civil resource violation system before they could move forward using the 2009 law.